As Thanksgiving weekend approaches, Dr. Nicola Mercer, medical officer of health for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (WDG) Public Health is urging all citizens of the region to get creative for the holiday.

Danny Williamson communication specialist with WDG Public Health said what’s really concerning and why Mercer issued the statement is because we’re seeing significant case counts and cases rising throughout the province.

Mercer said the rise in cases is deeply troubling.

“We are slipping as a community in our infection controls and it is outstripping our efforts to try and control this virus,” she said.

“Thanksgiving is a time we all think about gathering with our friends, with our loved ones, and we really want people to think about not bringing COVID-19 home for Thanksgiving," Williamson said. "We really want people to be thinking about, ‘how can we celebrate Thanksgiving, a time together, while still remembering we’re in the middle of this pandemic?’”

Williamson says try trading in your family dinner for a family walk, or even having a Zoom dinner with your friends and loved ones.

Williamson says COVID-19 is not done with us yet.

“Dr. Mercer talks a lot about kind of managing this thing [COVID-19] until we beat it," Williamson said. "We don’t have a vaccine yet, and we don’t have a treatment protocol that is highly effective.”

He added we need to continue to do those pieces that we know work, such as: practicing good hand hygiene, maintaining physical distancing, wearing a face covering or a mask and keeping groups and gatherings to small numbers.

Danny Williamson Communication Specialist with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health: